Via Slashdot, Verizon has decided to charge a $2 fee to people who pay their bill online or by telephone. Various justifications are offered up, but the one that makes the most sense is they want people to move to auto-pay and hope users will stop scrutinizing their bills so much.
My question is, with Verizon making this change can I choose to change providers and skip the early termination fee?
Pretty stupid move on their part, if you ask me.
UPDATE: and less than 24 hours later, Verizon caves to customer pressure
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The fee seems a little strange to me, as I pay online and will avoid the fee because I do so through my bank’s web site rather than Verizon’s.
It just seems like a through back to the 90′s to me. They already collect just shy of $200.00 a month from me for my family plan and now they need another $2.00 because I have the audacity to not need a paper bill and pay them online?
Strange as it more of a convenience for Verizon: not to mention online software saves money too as it easily does the work of several employees.
I never have used Verizon as in my area US Cellular has always been cheaper, but I pay virtually all my bills except my water bill online.
Looks like the FCC has taken notice;
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/30/9832840-fcc-looking-into-verizons-2-convenience-fees
So has Verizon, they have abandoned the $2 fee.
By the very nature of the (very unnatural) design of large publicly traded corporations, they will take whatever opportunity they can to squeeze cash wherever they can get it. Thank goodness the destruction of the regulatory mechanisms that are supposed to curtail their power isn’t quite yet complete, because I doubt that without FCC pressure they would have caved; instead most of Corporate America would try to force people to pay by direct withdrawal from their bank accounts.
It’s clear why they want this; they get paid more reliably if they can auto-pull from your bank account rather than bill you. Maybe not in your case, but in that percentage of the population that’s chronically forgetful or late. There’s also all those people who have overdraft coverage who would not necessarily intentionally go overdrawn but will automatically–so long as Verizon gets paid it’s not their problem, right?
The proper and fair way to do this is to give a minor discount to people who willingly allow the money to be pulled from their accounts.
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